25 years after Halo: Combat Evolved launched, Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios are planning to refresh the original sci-fi first-person shooter for franchise veterans and younger gamers alike. Enter Halo: Campaign Evolved, a ground-up remake of the original game that's finally taking Halo multiplatform.
After 343 Industries took over following Halo: Reach (Bungie's last Halo game), the consensus is that the franchise never quite returned to its original heights. Infinite (2021) was a convincing return to form and showed some promise, but troubled post-launch support clipped its wings. Sadly, Halo's popularity has dwindled in recent years, but instead of marching towards the future, the powers that be are convinced that returning to the series' origins is what most fans demand.
Now, 343 Industries has transformed into Halo Studios, and while we've been told Halo's future extends beyond Campaign Evolved, the first chapter of this new Great Journey is revisiting the original story rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5. Will it be enough to bring the IP back to life? It's hard to say at the moment, but we've got plenty of details to chew on.
When is Halo: Campaign Evolved coming out?
Halo: Campaign Evolved is scheduled for release on July 28, 2026.
The release date was confirmed during Summer Game Fest, with the official Xbox channels announcing the remake would also get an ‘early access’ start on July 23 for Premium Edition and Collector’s Edition owners.
Is Halo: Campaign Evolved coming to PlayStation as well as Xbox?
Halo: Campaign Evolved will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S at the same time, with physical disc editions available at retailers.
The game will also hit Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Game Pass Ultimate/PC, and Steam. Pre-orders get the Foundry Armory Pack cosmetics.
Players can choose between three different versions:
- Standard Edition ($49.99 / £49.99 / €59.99) – Base game.
- Premium Edition ($69.99 / £69.99 / €79.99) – Base game with five days of early access, the Alpha Halo Armory Pack of cosmetics, and the Digital Story & Art Collection.
- Collector’s Edition ($199.99 SRP / €199.99) – Premium Edition “plus a 12-inch Dark Horse Master Chief statue, light-up LED Cortana chip, Steelbook, original concept art prints, “physical version of the reimagined game manual”, and disc for Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles (Steam is code only)
One of the initial announcement's biggest shockers was that Halo would no longer be an Xbox and PC (Windows) exclusive. In fact, community director Brian Jarrard has teased that all new Halo games will be multiplatform, same-day releases moving forward.
Could this signal an eventual jump to Nintendo Switch 2, too? It's too early to say, but we hope so.
Halo: Campaign Evolved trailers
Xbox Game Studios had a big reveal planned for Halo: Campaign Evolved in late 2025, and the event dropped three different first-look videos on us: a roundtable reveal, a first in-game trailer all about the 'Silent Cartographer' mission, and a 13-minute gameplay demo.
You can watch all of them below, as well as the following trailers and gameplay demos:
Is Halo: Campaign Evolved a remake or remaster?
Halo: Campaign Evolved is a complete remake of the original 2001 sci-fi FPS featuring new missions, expanded gameplay, co-op, and cross-platform connectivity. It marks the second time Halo: Combat Evolved has been revisited, but this remake isn't something that's been done before.
Back in 2011, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – a remaster – was released. Then, in 2014, it was re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The first Halo is far from being lost media and remains perfectly playable on modern consoles, but it does feel a bit ancient nowadays. That, combined with the impending anniversary and the excuse of bringing it to more platforms and younger generations, is how this remake is justifying its existence.
Since it's being marketed as a complete remake in a brand-new, cutting-edge engine, fan expectations are high. A shiny return to the original battle against the Covenant with no new tricks and meaningful content won't cut it, or at least that's what the streets are saying.
Will Halo: Campaign Evolved have multiplayer modes?
Halo: Campaign Evolved won't have competitive multiplayer modes, at least not at launch. Halo Studios' focus is entirely on delivering a reimagining of the original Halo story campaign. It's hard to imagine the post-launch support not including a return of some sort to the enduring PvP multiplayer formula of Halo, but that's not on the cards (officially) at the time of writing.
Reliable insiders like Rebs Gaming have teased in the past that Halo's multiplayer future will be a "live-service, long-term updating multiplayer game" that isn't limited to one single release, so that might be where things are headed, but for now, let's just assume Halo: Campaign Evolved won't launch alongside player-versus-player online modes.
What we know for sure is that Halo: Campaign Evolved has two-player local split-screen co-op and up-to-four-player online co-op across Xbox, PC, and PS5. This co-op multiplayer experience will support the entire campaign and optional gameplay modifiers that aim to make replays more enticing and challenging.
What's new in Halo: Campaign Evolved?
First and foremost, Halo: Campaign Evolved is a complete graphical and tech overhaul of the original game. However, Xbox and Halo Studios are also using this opportunity to go deeper and expand on the story and missions that were already there. The original is still one of the best Halo games, but there's room for improvement, especially considering it had a bumpy development and several cuts were made to ship it in time.
The Unreal Engine 5-powered remake features "4K visuals, updated animations, remastered music, and re-recorded voice lines." Halo Studios is also introducing vehicles and weapons from later Halo entries, upping the variety of the action on the game's many battlefields.
Another welcome surprise is the option to use a third-person camera for the entirety of the campaign, as has been revealed in recent gameplay clips (see above) in the lead-up to launch.
Moreover, the campaign is gaining three more missions in line with Bungie's original level design that heavily feature Sgt. Johnson. There's also talk of rebuilding entire sections to support the new movement options, vehicles, and weapons.
Fans can already catch a glimpse of Halo Studios' approach to the remake – which will accommodate up to four players in co-op – in the aforementioned 'Silent Cartographer' gameplay demo and the longer showcases that dropped during Summer Game Fest 2026.
Needless to say, particularly disliked missions like 'The Library' will be getting more attention than fan-favorites. "We learned from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary that there was still an appetite for things like better wayfinding, navigation, and diversity in enemy encounters," creative director Max Szlagor explained to Xbox Wire.
Is there a Halo: Campaign Evolved demo?
There's no public Halo: Campaign Evolved demo available at the time of writing. While the press got the chance to visit Halo Studios ahead of the reveal and play the 'Silent Cartographer' demo that was shared in video form online, there are no plans to release it for everyone.
With the game’s launch right around the corner and confirmation that there won’t be an online multiplayer component, it looks like players won’t get a chance to play Halo: Campaign Evolved without picking it up or subscribing to Game Pass.
